


you're all that i need (underneath the tree)

by lifewasradical



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Christmas Eve, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Presents, Fluff, Food, Luke and Ashton decide they're not doing Christmas presents, M/M, Petunia!!!!!, that's basically it, they have to get around it somehow, this is 3 prompts from Tumblr all put together since they all belong together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:29:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28253937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lifewasradical/pseuds/lifewasradical
Summary: When Ashton insisted that they shouldn’t do Christmas presents for each other, Luke immediately set his mind in motion on what he could do to get around Ashton’s request. He had to think of something that wasn’t a conventional gift. He refused to not get Ashton something on their first Christmas together, but he also didn’t want to taint the memory of this year with a fight over gift giving.Or, Luke (and Ashton) plan holiday surprises for one another.
Relationships: Luke Hemmings/Ashton Irwin
Comments: 1
Kudos: 22





	you're all that i need (underneath the tree)

**Author's Note:**

> hi hi!! so this is actually just a repost of 3 different lashton prompts that I posted on Tumblr that all go together! they kinda read as separate entities but they all are in the same verse so I'm posting them together here!! 
> 
> just some festive fun for the season, fluffy with literally no point. 
> 
> dedicated to Emily, as always, because 2/3 of these prompts were for her. 
> 
> title from Underneath The Tree by Kelly Clarkson

When Ashton insisted that they shouldn’t do Christmas presents for each other, Luke immediately set his mind in motion on what he could do to get around Ashton’s request. He had to think of something that wasn’t a conventional gift. He refused to not get Ashton something on their first Christmas together, but he also didn’t want to taint the memory of this year with a fight over gift giving.

Luke managed to come up with the perfect idea, something that would be sentimental for both him and Ashton without breaking the bank, something that they could use for years to come. He spent weeks picking out the perfect pieces, carefully curating the experience to highlight their personalities while not spending more than a few dollars to appease Ashton.

On a cool Saturday evening, Luke put his plan into action, spending the afternoon preparing for his surprise piece by piece. Ashton had tucked himself away in the bedroom to read, much to Luke’s agreement so he could get things ready on the first floor.

“Hey Ashton?” Luke calls from downstairs after an hour or so, voice carrying through the house softly. He pauses, waiting to hear Ashtons soft “yeah?” come from the other room. Luke waits, hearing the soft taps of Ashton’s feet across the floorboards. 

“Where are you, Luke?” Ashton calls, reaching the bottom of the stairs but unsure where to continue to. “Living room!” Luke says back, holding Petunia’s collar to keep her from running off to greet Asthon at the stairs.

Luke hears him rounding the corner, coming up on the living room. “Wait!” Luke yells, stunning Ashton into stopping before he comes into view, “Close your eyes, it needs to be a surprise, it’s your Christmas present.”

Ashton huffs but obeys, shuffling across the hardwood slowly, managing not to bump into any of the walls from years of memorizing his home. When he reaches the doorway, he hears jingling again, this time not from Petunia’s chains. “You got me a Christmas present? I thought we said we weren’t doing anything this year,” Ashton asks, pouting dramatically with a tiny air of annoyance to his speech.

“It’s… kinda a present, nothing to get worked up over. I promise, it’s for both of us. Just, hold on, keep your eyes closed and just let me,” Luke grumbles while pulling Ashton’s hands off his eyes, putting something on his head softly, then adjusting his waves to better suit the headpiece. Luke then huffs, pulling whatever it was off of Ashton’s head and pushes some kind of sweater material over Ashton’s head, moving his arms through the sleeves carefully. Only then does Luke replace the headpiece, straightening out his hair again and humming in satisfaction.

“Okay, now take like 3 steps forward and then wait for me to say go, then you can open your eyes!” Luke giggles, stepping with Ashton to the right placement. Luke takes a minute to look at Ashton, just taking in the way that he’s standing in the living room, completely trusting of Luke despite not being able to see what they’re doing. He feels a new sense of love for his boyfriend, though he’s always been infatuated by everything that Ashton does at all times.

When Luke tells Ashton that he’s ready, Ashton slowly drops his hands and takes in the sight in front of him. 

Across from him are Luke and Petunia, both donning obnoxious christmas sweaters and matching wild grins. Luke has a snowflake headband on with obnoxiously glittery bobbles on top, shining in the kitchen lights. Petunia has on antlers, tied around her neck carefully. Ashton looks down at his own sweater, an over the top polar bear scene on a black crew neck, matching Luke’s penguin.

“Ta-da?” Luke sings, doing a small set of jazz hands at Ashton. There’s a moment where Ashton just stares at the two of them, not letting any facial expressions shine through. Luke panics, thinking maybe he’s done something to hurt Ashton, made him upset somehow. They intentionally said that they weren’t going to give each other any christmas presents this year, so Luke planned this whole moment so they could take some photos, get something that they could hang up on the wall for years to come. But as he’s standing there, staring at his boyfriend in a glittery Christmas sweater, Luke thinks that he might have made a mistake.

As he’s preparing to apologize, Ashton breaks into the brightest smile Luke has ever seen. He’s glowing, beaming at Luke and Petunia, holding back elated giggles at the scene in front of him. He covers his face with his hand, eyes crinkled with the intensity of his laugh. Luke feels laughter bubble up in his own chest, glee replacing the anxiety that was sitting here a moment before.

“What’s all this?” he asks, bending down to scratch at Petunia’s ears, pulling off the antlers for a second. Luke tuts and puts them back into place, “no no, the antlers are essential!” he insists, petting her nose softly, “she’s out reindeer.”

Ashton just looks at Luke, expecting something else to come to explain what’s happening here. Normally Ashton was the one to surprise Luke, so the change of pace is welcomed, Luke loving the way that Ashton reacts to the unexpected afternoon.

“I thought we could take family Christmas card pictures? Like it’s not actually a present for you, so I’m not breaking any of our rules, but I wanted us to have something to remember our first Christmas together,” Luke says softly, locking eyes with Ashton. He’s never seen Ashton look at him with so much love before, Christmas spirit and appreciation laced together.

“Of course,” he replies, leaning across the distance to press a kiss to Luke’s lips softly, one hand cradling his face and the other resting carefully on Petunia’s back. They take their pictures, sitting in front of the tree with the timer clicking every few seconds, catching them in some candid moments while they struggle to get Petunia to sit still long enough for a quality picture.

When they look back at the memories, they’ll always remember their first year together and the love they had for one another.

* * *

Determined not to be upstaged by Luke’s Christmas picture stunt, Ashton comes up with his own plan on how to do a non-present present for Luke, something that they will both be able to enjoy under the thin veil of it not actually being a Christmas present. He spends all his time researching ideas, looking up the cheesiest Christmas activities that he can think of, but nothing meets his expectations. He needs something stupid, something that will make Luke laugh and remember their first Christmas together.

Ashton finally settles on an idea, forcing Luke out of the house under an excuse of Michael needing help with something for Calum’s Christmas present. Once Luke is long gone, Ashton starts on his plan, setting up their kitchen into a wintery wonderland, snowflakes hanging down from the ceiling and miniature trees lining the countertops. He makes sure that every detail is meticulously planned, executed perfectly to take Luke completely by surprise when he comes home.

He spends time dusting the countertops in white (powdered sugar) and setting out all of his treats before getting into the outfit that he bought online. It’s a tight fit and it makes Ashton feel ridiculous, but the smile on Luke’s face will be worth all the hassle. He gets Petunia in on the event too, staging her in the corner for Luke’s arrival.

Soon enough, Luke is walking through the door, calling out to Ashton and Petunia as he does. Ashton tells Petunia to stay when she tries to go find Luke, as he starts up the music, bells jingling through the house as Ashton instructs Luke to come to the kitchen. Luke slowly makes his way down the hallway, stopping in the doorway to the kitchen in surprise.

Ashton decorated the whole room to look like the North Pole, complete with Ashton himself dressed up as an elf, green leggings and everything. Luke struggles to hold back a laugh as he takes in the room, eyes glittering under the warm lights. Petunia is reprising her role as a reindeer with her antlers perched on her head as she bites down onto a bone shaped like a star. Luke bends down to scratch her ears softly before he looks over at Ashton, eyes trailing up over the atrocious outfit.

Ashton knows he looks ridiculous, dressed up in a green felt one-piece outfit with pointy ears poking out from beneath his hair. He’s got the pointy elf shoes on too, pieces of fabric covering his normal house slippers, but still playing into the illusion.

The rest of the kitchen is set up with a hot chocolate buffet, with every topping that Luke could ever want on his sweet drink, candy canes and chocolate shavings and marshmallows in tiny snowflake bowls. A pot of the drink sits on the stovetop, warmed to perfection and ready for their cozy night in.

“What’s this?” Luke finally laughs, holding back his glee at the sight in front of him. His hands twitch like he wants to reach out to something, anything to see that the moment is real.

“I couldn’t let you upstage me, so here’s my not-gift gift. Brought to you by Santa’s best elf himself,” Ashton beams, gesturing to the scene around him while smirking.

“I shouldn’t be this attracted to an elf,” Luke laughs, fully coming into the kitchen now, leaning against the countertop.

Ashton feels the blush rise on his face, biting back the grin he knows is just about to come out. “Well you do happen to be looking at the most attractive elf in all the North Pole. But this elf is on a mission, I’m here to bring you hot chocolate with all the fixings and whatever Christmas movie you want to watch. But first, please go put on the pajamas that are sitting in the bathroom.”

Luke follows his instructions, coming back into the room soon after wearing comfy red plaid pants and a hoodie, looking significantly more cozy than he had when he walked in the door. Ashton is serving them their drinks, dishing out large spoonfuls into their festive mugs, before starting in on the toppings.

“Do you want marshmallows on that?” Ashton asks, ignoring the affronted look that Luke offers him in response.

“That’s a really stupid question,” Luke responds.

“Listen, I’m just an elf, I’m trying to make sure that you’re getting everything you want for Christmas,” Ashton says, waving the spoon in the air wildly.

Luke laughs, shaking his head slowly, “Sorry Mr. Elf, of course I want marshmallows, please. With extra chocolate.”

“That’s Mr. Santa’s Number One Elf to you,” Ashton nods, preparing Luke’s request before handing it over to him, making his own with candy canes and whipped cream.

Luke crowds into Ashton’s space, hugging him around his waist and nestling his head into Ashton’s neck. He whispers something that sounds suspiciously like “thank you” into Ashton’s skin, pressing a kiss there before standing up straight again, playing with the fake pointy tip of Ashton’s “ear”.

“You really went all in on this gift, didn’t you,” Luke mutters before taking a long sip of his drink.

Ashton huffs, rolling his eyes slightly, “No, this isn’t a gift, remember? We’re not doing gifts this year.”

Luke laughs fondly, humming his confirmation of their promise not to give each other gifts, even though that promise went out the window the second Ashton walked downstairs and saw Luke wearing the sweater. Luke wraps his arms around Ashton again, and Ashton savors the quiet moment with his other half, holding each other in the kitchen on a not all that cold December night. This Christmas will surely be one that they remember.

* * *

Christmas Eve is a quiet affair for Luke and Ashton. They say no to every invitation they’re given, claiming to have other, more important plans. Calum and Michael are a bit suspicious, but they don’t say anything about it.

No one has to know that those important plans are with each other, cuddled up on the couch with hot chocolate and Petunia and as many Christmas movies as they can fit in before one of them falls asleep on the other.

Luke comes in from the kitchen first, holding a plate of the cookies that they had so carefully baked all day, both claiming that they were awful at baking and unable to follow a recipe. No one has to know that they used prepackaged cookie dough and simply cut out festive shapes.

Luke carefully sets out the plate of cookies on the coffee table, read to be joined by Ashton and their drinks. He’s ready for the rest of the night, cuddled up against Ashton, festive candles lit to set the mood even more. He picked out their comfiest blanket, fluffed up all the couch cushions and put on his softest hoodie.

While Luke is setting up the movie, flicking through the channels, Ashton is in the kitchen putting together their hot chocolates. Luke can hear him humming to himself, appreciating the way that Ashton always brings something musical into everything he does. He hears him tapping out a beat on the countertop while he waits for the drinks to heat up, a vaguely recognizable tune that Luke can’t seem to place.

He’s scrolling through the Netflix options when Ashton finally comes into the room, stopping dead in his tracks in the doorway, “Uh, Luke?” Ashton calls, sounding a little too uncomfortable for their calm night at home.

Luke hums in response, not taking his eyes off the television. “Uh, Petunia is eating all the cookies,” Ashton says, hands still full with mugs of hot chocolate.

Luke whips around, seeing Petunia happily munching on one of the snickerdoodles left on the table. He yells, crossing the room in 3 large strides to stop the dog from eating any more of the cookies. “Petunia, no! Those are for Santa!” Luke whines, pulling part of the last cookie from her mouth.

Petunia grumbles unhappily, annoyed that Ashton had to ruin her getting a tasty snack from her unexpecting human. She waddles over to the couch, taking up residency on one end while Luke just stares, unable to wrap his head around what happened.

He knows it’s all his fault, he shouldn't have left the cookies out where she could get to them. Petunia has always been a pig, eating anything and everything that is left at her height. Regardless, Luke can’t help but feel guilty, ruining the one thing that he was in charge of for their night.

Luke knows that Ashton won’t really be upset, but he still feels the little pang of sadness dampening their perfect night. He feels the stressed tears sting his eyes before he even has a chance to push them down, chastising himself for getting so worked up over something as stupid as cookies. The little voice in his head tells him that he’s also an irresponsible dog owner for letting Petunia eat so many cookies, polishing off an entire plate without a second glance. Eating all of those cookies was going to make both him and Ashton sick, let alone a dog significantly smaller than two large adult men.

“Hey, it was only cookies, it’s okay,” Ashton says, ripping Luke out of his internal distress. Luke missed Ashton crossing the room, leaving the hot chocolates far out of Petunia’s reach, and stepping over into Luke’s space. He wraps his arms around Luke’s waist, holding tightly onto the fabric at the base of his spine to ground Luke in the moment.

“I just feel bad for ruining our cookies and the entire night,” Luke mumbles, ducking his head down into Ashton’s shoulder, exhaling slowly. He brings his hand up around Ashton’s back, resting it right where his heart is, counting the beats as they thump through his body.

“Nonsense, it's just cookies! We have hot chocolate, and cuddles, and movies. Who needs cookies? Maybe this is just an excuse to dig into our stockings early, I guarantee there is some candy in there if you still have a sweet tooth. Or, I can go get some popcorn? That might go over better with the movie, we won’t be as sugar hyped that way,” Ashton rattles off, swaying them both slightly in the middle of the living room.

Luke pulls back slightly, looking directly into Ashton’s eyes for any sense of anger, distaste, or mournfulness. All he sees is love, adoration, acceptance. He doesn’t know what he expected, but he’s thankful to see that everything is okay, at least for Ashton. That calms his stressing heart just a little bit, seeing the visual reminder that Ashton doesn’t care, that Ashton still loves him even when he fucks things up.

“Popcorn?” Luke questions, smiling, just a little bit, but enough that has Ashton breaking out in a larger grin. Luke ends up mirroring that smile, dimple popping with the sheer happiness. They meander to the kitchen, Luke hopping up on the countertop while Ashton takes out the glass popcorn bowl, filling it with kernels and placing it in the microwave.

He comes back and stands between Luke’s legs, giving him one short kiss on his lips. “Are you sure you’re not mad about the cookies?” Luke whispers, lips brushing Ashton’s from their proximity.

Ashton shakes his head, rolling his eyes slightly, “Of course I’m not mad about the cookies. You’re the one with the sweet tooth, I would be fine eating nothing, as long as we get to relax on the couch and watch horrible Christmas movies and maybe make out a little.”

Luke flushes, smiling down at Ashton from his spot, “Hmm, I think that can be arranged,” Luke laughs, pressing another kiss to Ashton’s lips.

It might not be the way they planned on spending the holiday, but Luke is certain that he’ll remember this holiday season for years to come.

**Author's Note:**

> Talk to me on Tumblr [lifewasradical](https://lifewasradical.tumblr.com) 💜


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